Art Basel show is the world’s premier Modern and contemporary art shows, held annually in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong. Founded in 1970 by gallerists, this show has been a driving force in supporting the role that galleries play in the nurturing of artists, and the development and promotion of visual arts.

In addition to showing exciting works by world-renowned artists, Art Basel is always innovating, thus expanding its platform for new artists who represent the vanguard of the visual arts. Its worldwide reputation – earned over the last forty years – for showing work of the highest merit, and attracting the world’s leading gallerists and collectors, has made Art Basel the place where the artworld meets.

Olson Kundig Architects

Olson Kundig Architects began its creative existence with architect Jim Olson in 60s. Explored the relationship between dwellings and the landscape they inhabit in the Northwest. Olson started the firm based on some simple ideas: that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature, culture and people, and that inspiring surroundings have a positive effect on people’s lives.

A blackened-wood structure by Seattle studio Olson Kundig Architects houses the VIP lounge at this year’s Design Miami/Basel fair. The exterior is made of charred wooden bricks, giving the six-metre-tall pavilion a dark appearance. The bricks were made by Holzindustrie Schweighofer, an Austrian company founded more than 400 years ago.

This year marks the 10th anniversary for the Design Miami fair at Art Basel. To pay tribute, the firm incorporated a series of X-shaped elements – a reference to the roman numeral for 10.

Seattle-based artist Glymmer created an interactive installation for the pavilion in which lights change colour based on the movement of visitors.

In addition to providing a place to relax and eat for fair visitors, the pavilion is hosting a series of talks. This is the second pavilion Olson Kundig has created for Design Miami. Last December, the firm used recycled timber beams to build a VIP lounge for the fair’s Miami Beach edition.

Design Miami/Basel 2015 – which takes place from 16 to 21 June – is also hosting a table shaped like a train crash, sculptural seating carved from basalt and an updated version of a flatpack home originally created by Jean Prouvé.

Gallery ALL

Gallery ALL is the first design galleries in China that dedicates to exhibiting limited-edition furniture and design objects. It was founded in 2013 and currently has two spaces, one in downtown Los Angeles and one in Beijing 751 Design Park.

Gallery ALL is committed to introducing the public and collectors to the most cutting-edge and experimental design collections, pushes the boundaries of design through the exploration and experimentation of materials, intersecting the disciplines of architecture, technology, and design.

The mission of Gallery ALL is to facilitate a dialogue of design between the East and the West, bringing exceptional designs to the Chinese market while promoting Chinese designers to the global platform.

See more galleries at Design Gallerist here.

Studio Job

Studio Job was founded in 2000 by Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel. This studio in the Renaissance spirit is where traditional and modern techniques are combined to produce once-in-a-lifetime objects.

In Studio Job, craftsmanship is more important than quantity and extreme designs take precedence over middle-of-the road options. Job Smeets: “We want to build up an oeuvre, not score a few hits.”
Nynke Tynagel: “Our work is becoming increasingly expressive and our approach increasingly experimental.”

They started the studio after graduating from the Dutch Design Academy in Eindhoven; in the fifteen years since then, they have developed into the contemporary pioneers of personal expression. Technique, science and ornamental designs come together in Studio Job’s examples of Gesamtkunstwerk.

Job Smeets likes to call their style ‘New Gothic’, with perfectionism and uniqueness as its key features. Nynke Tynagel talks of a symphony orchestra where a cohesive piece of music is created from an abundance of different sounds. For a good twenty-five guilds are represented in Studio Job’s lab, from traditional craftsmen such as sculptors, furniture makers, painters and specialists in casting bronze or making stained-glass windows to modern professionals who are adept with lasers and 3D printing.

They are often asked which one does what. But they don’t think “who does what” is important. Job and Nynke are united in their desire to make objects that are ageless. This they do with the help of a fantastic team and with unflagging fervour.

Gallery Fumi

Gallery FUMI was the first design gallery to open in Shoreditch, London, in 2008. Its directors, Valerio Capo and Sam Pratt, have since made it into a fixture of the London design scene through a series of groundbreaking shows.
While Capo and Pratt do not have a fixed manifesto, they are naturally drawn to both emerging and established designers who use their imaginations to push materials to their limits.

Specialises in design pieces, usually produced in a limited edition or as a one-off commission, that while still functional can often teeter on the very edge of usability. Indeed with such strong aesthetics at play, the “function” of much of the work is to be admired and discussed. It is the stuff of fantasy, then, but grounded in a strong material reality nonetheless.

Gallery Fumi, which has an exhibition space in Shoreditch, has commissioned a series of designs especially for the event taking place in the Swiss city this week. These include the Metalware series by London designer Max Lamb – a range of furniture built from brass and copper tubes, assembled using a laser cutter and tin solder paint.

The collection is a development of Lamb’s Woodware series of pieces built from dowel rods of various dimensions, which were created for the gallery in 2011. London studio Glithero has created a collection of tables with bases formed from sticks of patinated bronze that appear to be bound together at the joints. The new Les French tables feature thin blue-tinted surfaces in various sizes.

Galerie Patrick Seguin

Founded in 1989, Galerie Patrick Seguin is now in a space of 300 m2 fully designed by architect Jean Nouvel. The gallery has shown internationally, the talent of French designers such as Jean Prouvé, CharlottePerriand, Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier and Jean Royere.

With its expertise, the gallery has been approached by international prestige museums like the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Moma in New York, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, and the Museum of Fine Arts Nancy, to collaborate in their exhibitions.

The quality of the works selected by Patrick Seguin and their implementation neat scene have given rise to new exhibitions in this field. Present in major international fairs, Galerie Patrick Seguin represented the creation of the 1950 Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris, the Biennale des Antiquaires in Monaco, at the FIAC in DesignMiami / DesignMiami and / Basel.

In parallel, the gallery has developed an editorial line of monographs that accompany exhibitions and conducts rigorous work to publicize the removable architectures of Jean Prouvé.

Design Miami/Basel 2015 – which takes place from 16 to 21 June – is also hosting a table shaped like a train crash, sculptural seating carved from basalt and an updated version of a flatpack home originally created by Jean Prouvé.